All they have had is a very one sides argument from SLT about how much more money they will get.

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They will not get any more money.
Academy status does <u>not </u>mean more money in the school budget.
Schools are given the allocation they'd have had from the LA's budget
(in addition to a &pound;25k one-off payment to convert to Academy status).
Schools can then spend it (to an extent) as they like. However they will
then need buy in provision for the things the LA provides (maternity
pay, SEN budget, payroll management etc).
The government want
everyone to believe that Academy status = more money. Your SMT probably
want the staff and pupils to believe this too.
It's not true.

Our school will be about about &pound;300k after the additional costs are factored in. That's a NET 10% increase. None of which the LA used to punt our way.

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I don't understand this sentence. Did you miss some words out? Sorry, could you explain?

FluffyKat said:

Our new articles of (whatever) commit the new Governors to maintaining pay and conditions to at least as good as nationally negotiated.

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It's very clear that Mr. Gove doesn't want there to be any national pay agreements should his vision of universal conversion to Academies come to fruition. A letter was sent to every Head in the country telling them that they would be putting any future option of converting to Academy status in jepardy if they agreed long term pay agreements with their staff. Click here to see the letter: (click "letter from Lord Hill" PDF on the right).
With no national pay agreements your governers/Head will have no yard stick. They have commited to match something that might well not exist.

FluffyKat said:

We are already offering out the services we have brought in-house to local primaries who are also converting, saving both us and them money.

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Your LA does this and can offer far greater economies of scale than one school.

FluffyKat said:

Actually being able to go to their local school, instead of being bussed 20 miles away

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This must be really inconvenient but whilst you have my sympathy you must understand that this is not common.

FluffyKat said:

Better buildings.

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How are these being funded?

FluffyKat said:

And some staff who might even be paid more for their advanced skills.

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And some might have to reapply for their own job for less pay and worse conditions.

I meant to say &pound;300k more money.
I know they can't agree specific long term pay agreements, but many have converted with a suitably woolly phrasing that avoids Gove's ire. Which phrase is probably utterly worthless. I do appreciate that national agreements are likely to disappear.
To 'assume' the LA will buy better/econmically is not a good premise. That they *should* be able to ... true. In any event, our LA chairman has already stated the aim of withdrawing all free provision of education services from September, explaining that the schools must now pay for these themselves from then, and that they can contract the LA to do the work they used to do for free, as it were. They have alrady done so for many services, and we may well continue to use them. Most of the staff I know at the LA have either been given notice or transferred to other departments.
I would point out that, to my knowledge, EVERY school (Primary and Secondary) in this local area has already converted, are converting, or are the brink of announcing it. This is staunch Tory country here. What Gove wants he will get.
With our funding switching to per pupil, we can easily increase our intake by a modest amount. Our school site is massive by comparison and can easily accommodate more buildings. We can fund a build program from the increased funds. The plans are already drawn up. Whether that will happen remains to be seen. Our 4 previous expansion building programs were all funded from non LA funds and met with stiff opposition from other schools locally, but with support from parents and local donors.
I was not aware that converting schools could make staff re-apply for jobs. I thought only the other type of Academies had that option (those converting from failing schools). There are many differences between the 2 types of academy. However, it makes little difference if they can. If they do, we will have to live with it.
Whatever I might wish, the choice is not down to me or the staff, pupils or parents. The governors make those decisions, and they have done so. If it adversely affects staff and those staff don't like it, they can leave. I know I will if it looks like going away from what I think I can live with. If enough schools become bully boys to their staff, the education system will implode as staff walk away. I suspect that is what Gove wants.
In effect, the new type academies become like private schools. Do most teachers who work in the private sector get so abused that they leave? No. It is in no institution's interest to force that type of reaction.
Do I think I have a viable long term future as a teacher? I remain to be convinced. Living where I do (with house prices at Inner M25 levels) the pay isn't viable even now. I am resigned to having to leave teaching to make ends meet, or find additional sources of earnings. I will give it 3-4 years. Just enough time for my daughter to have left school.
Bottom line is, it could be rosy and good for the pupils, or things could go badly wrong. Where I am now, I am willing to give it a go. Should parents of future pupils be concerned? Yes, but they voted these numbnuts into power. Should current pupils be worried? Not so much I would have thought.
I can't deal with what 'might' happen, only what has. Worry is of no use. I and my colleagues can do nothing to change where we are now and where we are going. We can try only to influence it for the good.

Stop peddling propaganda Bronson!
If you are lucky enough to work in a LA that is efficiently run, caring and whose priorities match those of your school, good for you. Sadly there are many LA's that are ineffieciently run, where priorities are dicated by political factors and where all they do for your school is interfere.
Are you saying that in those circumstances if the school WANT to become an Academy they should not be allowed to? If so , do you think we are living in the Soviet Union?
Fact - there are good schools and bad schools for teachers to work at and `learners' to go to. Whether or not they are an Academy is NOT the main factor.
And anyway Bronson, if you don't like them you will have decreasingly few job opportunities in the next few years as more and more school opt to become an Academy.

And yay ..... We got an Outstanding letter from Ofsted to send home today. Again. The HT walked into the briefing and said, I've got news from Ofsted ... and I think I lost yet another year and more hair from up top.
3 Ofsteds and not once have they even come within 100 yards of my room. At times it pays to be invisible (non-core).